Harley WLA Bobber

[jaxenro]

I like to have a back story for my builds for this one it will be a surplus Harley WLA turned into a bobber post war. I am using this for the source bike and plan to strip it down (no front fender, bobbed rear fender) apply a "civilian" paint job and selectively aluminum paint in place of chrome. Sort of a back yard bobber

 

 

[mod3l Lover]

   I'm in for the ride Joel!!  (see what I did there?)

         David S.

[bbowser]

189 parts on a 1/35 bike?  You're a braver soul than I !

[jaxenro]

The good thing about a bobber is you get to leave parts off

The other good thing is unlike military modeling this is a home built so there really isn't all that much rivet counting. I have a couple of pics I am using as a guide but I am trying to replicate a look not a particular bike

I need to make a run to the paint and glue store but hopefully will be showing some progress next week

[peteski]

8 hours ago, bbowser said:

189 parts on a 1/35 bike?  You're a braver soul than I !

Not just the parts count.  If you saw the size of those parts, you would roll your eyes!  I have a similar kit and some parts are smaller than the gates that hold the parts to the runners!!  They are microscopic!

[jaxenro]

I have been planning everything out tiny doesn’t describe some of these parts 

I'm thinking I will pre paint as much as I can on the sprue, glue it with mini drops of super glue, then touch up anything I miss. Some parts like the gas tank I will pre assemble before painting. I got some better decals from archer find transfers for the instruments

Red frame and tank with a black engine and aluminum heads sounds about right. 

[Mike999]

Here's another neat and unusual 1/35 scale motorcycle.  It comes in the MENG #HS-005 FT-17 Light Tank Crew & Orderly kit.  Along with figures and accessories for the Renault FT-17 tank, that kit includes a 1917 Peugeot 750-cc 2-cylinder motorcycle and dispatch rider.  If you really like aggravation, ET Models makes a photo-etched detail set for the bike, available on eBay. 

 

[glusnifr]

BJ Hunnicuts bike, from M.A.S.H. ,from a 1/35 scale military kit

[jaxenro]

Cool what kit did you use?

 

There are a couple of 1/35 military bikes suitable for conversion along with Harley's there are Indian's and Triumph's

[Mike999]

24 minutes ago, jaxenro said:

There are a couple of 1/35 military bikes suitable for conversion along with Harley's there are Indian's and Triumph's

Also lots of vintage German motorcycles, going back to the ancient Tamiya and Italeri kits from the 70's.  Modern kits of BMWs and Zundapps are available from Master Box, Lion Roar, Zvezda etc.  Zvezda also makes a 1/35 Russian motorcycle that was a copy of the BMW R12.

IBG makes a kit of a pre-war, civilian R12 with sidecar.  It has optional parts for a straight civilian bike or one confiscated by the Wehrmacht and militarized.  Also options like single or dual carburetors. Here's a review of it from Perth Military Modelling:

https://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/ibg/igb35001.html 

[glusnifr]

1 hour ago, jaxenro said:

Cool what kit did you use?

 

There are a couple of 1/35 military bikes suitable for conversion along with Harley's there are Indian's and Triumph's

i used this one

[jaxenro]

So I started cleaning up the parts and some assembly just to give an idea of the scale of this here is the front frame and lower part of the flathead posed on a US quarter prior to cleaning up the mold lines

Edited June 22, 2018 by jaxenro

[jaxenro]

This thing is just a lot smaller than anything I am used to making. I messed up the heads and have a gap I am going to see how bad it looks after I put some paint on it I might be able to squeak a little filler in there but this will not be one of my better efforts. I will post some WIP pics soon I have the engine mostly done and the frame half done. I ordered another one will use this as a learning experience

Just as an example of size these two parts are the intake manifold etc. on a US Penny

 

 

Edited July 1, 2018 by jaxenro

[peteski]

I hope that you are using some sort of magnifying device when building this tiny model!

I do quite a bit of miniature modeling and I couldn't work without my Optivisor (with a #7 lens plate) and a stereo-microscope for the really tiny stuff.

Edited July 2, 2018 by peteski

[jaxenro]

No just by eye but I think I will purchase one for the next build

 

[jaxenro]

Made a little progress I need to paint the wheels next before going forward. I also need to fix a bit where the photo etch for the wheel "rim" is broken

 

 

[jaxenro]

The rim paint needs a little touch up but it didn't come out too bad for painting freehand I used flat black for the tire and chrome silver for the wheel Testors MM enamel

Shown on a US Quarter for scale

 

 

[peteski]

Nice close-up photo!

And the tires themselves are made from 2 or 3 plastic "slices", correct?

[jaxenro]

3 slices yes. 

[jaxenro]

Some progress I am really not happy with how it is coming out so I treating it as a learning experience and starting a second one

 

 

 

 

[jaxenro]

Still a ways to go and a lot of painting touch up but I was able to mock it up to get an idea of what it will look like. I purchased the motorcycle repair crew kit which includes TWO more motorcycle kits so I have a lot of changes planned in how I build the next two

 

 

[jaxenro]

Tank is on needs some putty and repaint as does half the kit.

I started the second one one of the things I didn't like making the first one was the engine is built on the frame so the first thing I did was cut the lower half of the engine block free now I can build and detail the engine separately. I can also build the frame, install the tank, smooth everything, and paint it before adding the engine

 

 

[peteski]

Nice to see progress. Hey, if you have to build one just for the learning experience, so be it.  It is great to see someone buiilding this tiny kit!  That looks like a bottom part of a Testors liquid cement bottle it is resting against (good size reference).

[jaxenro]

Yes that’s a testors glue bottle. I learned a lot from this one and #2 and #3 are in progress

[jaxenro]

I am still using this one as a test bed for trying things out for size. Ignore the lack of mounting brackets and the just glued to the cylinder end and let me know what you think of the 1/16 aluminum tube for exhausts please. Diameter too big or does it look like a good size for custom straight pipes? Technically it is a shade over 2 1/8 scale inches

 

 

Edited July 19, 2018 by jaxenro